I was having a conversation on the weekend with a colleague about my always zero in-box and thought I’d share my simple approach to dealing with email:
Rule #1: Look at your email only a few times a day. Learn not to worry about your in-box and the need to react immediately. It’s a distraction and you’ll be a lot more productive if you don’t treat it this way.
Rule #2: Read every email, as you do make the decision to either reply, forward (delegating to others), delete or file. That’s it.
For those requiring action or a bit more attention, I file in a folder labelled @Action – then I go through this folder a couple times during the day to deal with these. Another option is to file the email and create a to-do to manage the follow-up.
I have a single folder for filing email that is labelled @Archive. Don’t bother creating folders for projects and categories. Use your email software search to find things.
Rule #3: Send less email. Walk over to someone’s desk if you want to say something, pick up the phone and make a call. Reducing the amount you send will also reduce the amount you receive.
I’ve been doing this for about 8 years now and always have a zero in-box. When I come back from vacation to that 500+ email box I can usually clear it in about a 1/2 hour using this approach.